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April 2013

April 30, 2013

Yu Darvish didn't have his best stuff Tuesday, but the offense picked up the slack in a 10-6 victory.

Darvish was working with a 4-2 lead with one out in the sixth, and induced what appeared to be a double-play grounder by Hector Gimenez. Rangers first baseman Mitch Moreland fielded it and fired to second, and shortstop Elvis Andrus rifled it back to first to Darvish.

But Darvish missed the bag and the White Sox extended their inning. The next batter, Dewayne Wise, sent a two-run homer to right field to tie the game at 4-4.

The Rangers, though, bailed Darvish out by scoring six runs in the bottom half of the sixth and pulling away for their 17th victory of the season.

Darvish joked about the play at first afterwards.

"If I had touched the bag that would have ended the inning and I wouldn't have given up the home run," Darvish said through a translator. "But I think the home run fired up our team and we scored a lot of runs after it."

Here are a few additional notes from the game:

* Ian Kinsler made a nice play on a well-hit grounder by Alex Rios in the seventh inning. Kinsler had to go to his right and the throw across his body landed in Mitch Moreland's glove just before Rios touched the bag. The play got a standing salute by manager Ron Washington.

"That was a very sharp play and he made as perfectly as he could make it," Washington said. "That's when I saluted. Perfect."

* Nelson Cruz and Jeff Baker had back-to-back solo shots in the fourth inning, scoring the Rangers' first runs in 12 innings (they were shutout by Minnesota on Sunday).

* Adrian Beltre snapped an 0-for-11 stretch with runners in scoring position with a two-run homer to cap off the six-run sixth.

* Tanner Scheppers allowed his first run of the season. White Sox slugger Adam Dunn homered off him in the seventh inning.

* The Rangers matched their second-best start in club history at 17-9. They had the same record in 2004 and 2012.

ARLINGTON
– Yu Darvish didn’t have his best stuff, but the offense wound up providing
enough support.

Nelson Cruz, Jeff Baker and Adrian Beltre all went deep, and
a six-run sixth inning propelled the Texas Rangers to a 10-6 victory over the
Chicago White Sox on Tuesday at Rangers Ballpark.

With the game tied 4-4 going into the bottom of the sixth,
the Rangers’ offense broke loose against three White Sox relievers.

Geovany Soto started it by drawing a one-out walk, and then
scored on a double by Mitch Moreland. With two outs, Ian Kinsler drove in
Moreland with a single to center. Elvis Andrus followed with a single and then
Lance Berkman drew a walk to load the bases.

That’s when White Sox reliever Nate Jones gifted a couple
runs by throwing consecutive run-scoring wild pitches during an at-bat with
Beltre. His next pitch, though, would have scored the runs anyways. Beltre
launched a two-run homer into the left-field seats to extend the Rangers lead
to 10-4.

Darvish earned his fifth victory of the season, allowing
four runs on seven hits with three walks and nine strikeouts over six innings.
Reliever Tanner Scheppers gave up a run in the seventh on a solo homer by Adam
Dunn, ending his scoreless inning streak at 12 2/3 to start the season.

The White Sox scored another run in the eighth off Michael
Kirkman.

The White Sox scored two runs off Darvish in the first, but
the Rangers answered with back-to-back solo shots in the fourth by Cruz and
Baker. Texas
took the lead with two runs in the fifth on RBI hits by Kinsler and Andrus.

Chicago
tied it at 4-4 in the top of the sixth, though, on a two-out, two-run homer by
Dewayne Wise, who had four hits on the night.

David Murphy knows that he is struggling, and those struggles have him out of the Rangers' lineup Tuesday. Murphy would likely be in the lineup if Chicago wasn't throwing a left-hander. The White Sox are also throwing one Wednesdsay, so Murphy or Mitch Moreland are candidates to sit.

A.J. Pierzynski won't play Tuesday in the Rangers' first game against his former team, and he might not play Wednesday against the White Sox because of a sore right oblique muscle.

Rangers manager Ron Washington said that the injury is one that Pierzynski has dealt with the past "four or five" seasons and knows how to play with it. Washington knows that the Rangers don't have much catching depth in the system, so he is playing it safe with Pierzynski.

Pierzynski is available to pinch-hit.

From the minors, third baseman Mike Olt has been out of the lineup at Triple A Round Rock since Thursday because of vision problems. General manager Jon Daniels didn't get into specifics, but Olt was in Arlington on Tuesday visiting doctors. Daniels also didn't want to draw the logical conclusion that vision problems have contributed to Olt's lousy start to the season (.139).

Right-hander Cody Buckel, who has stumped the Rangers with his sudden inability to throw strikes, has been moved from the Double A Frisco rotation to the bullpen. The Rangers considered sending him to extended spring training but felt that continuing to compete in a team environment would serve Buckel better.

Randy Wells, who just missed out on the No. 5 spot in the Rangers' rotation in spring training, has retired. He was at Triple A Round Rock, and gave up seven runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings Monday. His record was 0-4 with a 6.08 ERA in five starts.

Finally ... Left-handed reliever Joe Ortiz now wishes to be known as Joseph Ortiz, effective immediately.

Comstock joked that Lewis gave up two “extended” hits, which
means they likely would have been outs in the big leagues.

“I was really surprised and encouraged by what he did
today,” Comstock said. “We always anticipate a little wildness, but he didn’t
have it. He was really happy with how his arm felt, and that is really all that
matters.”

Lewis, who is rehabbing from surgery to repair a torn flexor
tendon in his right elbow, is scheduled to throw a bullpen session Wednesday
and then make another extended spring start going two innings on Saturday.

April 28, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS
– Going into Sunday, the Texas Rangers were the only team in the majors that
had yet to lose consecutive games. That’s no longer the case.

The Rangers were the first team shutout by the Twins in a
5-0 loss at Target Field, a day after a 7-2 loss. Texas
and Minnesota
split the four-game series.

Rangers starter Alexi Ogando took the loss despite turning
in a quality start. He allowed three runs on four hits with two walks and three
strikeouts over six innings. The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a
sacrifice fly by Chris Parmelee, and then extended it to 3-0 on a two-out,
two-run homer by Justin Morneau in the sixth.

Minnesota cushioned its lead with two runs in the seventh.

The Rangers didn’t get anything going offensively against
Twins righty Kevin Correia, who had his best start of the season. Correia threw
eight shutout innings, scattering six hits, and reliever Casey Fien worked around a one-out single in a scoreless ninth.

Texas
had its first two batters reach in the fourth inning, but it didn’t score
either. The Rangers also left two on base in the fifth, and finished the game by going
0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

Ron Washington has his standard lineup set for the Rangers series finale today against the Twins. Alexi Ogando makes his fourth straight road start and is looking for his third win on the season. The Twins counter with right-hander Kevin Correia.

April 27, 2013

MINNEAPOLIS – The Texas Rangers couldn’t figure out a rookie
pitcher making his third big-league start, Derek Holland gave up a two-out,
two-run homer and the Minnesota Twins pulled away for a 7-2 victory on Saturday
afternoon at Target Field.

The Rangers lost for just the third time in their last 11
games, and were almost the first team shutout by the Twins this season until Mitch Moreland's two-out, two-run double in the ninth.

Holland
allowed an unearned run over the first five innings before running into trouble
in the sixth. With one on and two out, he left a slider in the zone that Josh
Willingham sent into the left-field seats to extend the Twins’ lead to 3-0.

Minnesota
tacked on a single run in the seventh and blew it open with three more in the eighth
off Michael Kirkman.

With two outs in the eighth, Wilkin Ramirez hit a sharp
grounder that Ian Kinsler couldn’t handle that scored a run. Oswaldo Arcia then
singled and Aaron Hicks came through with a two-run double for the Twins, who lost the first two games of this four-game series.

The Rangers had their chances earlier in the game, the best coming
in the third inning against Twins lefty Pedro Hernandez.

Leury Garcia had a one-out single followed by a ground-rule
double by Kinsler. If Kinsler’s double wouldn’t have hopped the fence, Garcia
could have scored easily.

Still, the Rangers had runners at second and third with one out, but Gentry
lined out to short and Adrian Beltre flew out.

The Rangers were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position until Moreland doubled home two runs in the ninth with a double to center off Twins reliever Glen Perkins.

April 26, 2013

The Texas Rangers’ rookies in the rotation have pitched like
savvy veterans the past two nights. After Nick Tepesch threw 6 2/3 innings of
one-run ball Thursday, Justin Grimm turned in his best start in the big
leagues Friday.

Grimm threw seven scoreless innings and helped the Rangers
to a 4-3 victory over the Twins at Target Field.

Grimm scattered five hits with no walks and four strikeouts
on the night.

Grimm stranded two runners in the first inning, and worked
out of jams the rest of the night. The leadoff man reached in the third, but
Grimm erased that by inducing a double-play grounder in the next at-bat. The
leadoff man reached again in the sixth, but Grimm retired the next three to end
that threat.

Grimm pitched around a one-out single in the seventh, and
then gave way to Tanner Scheppers in the eighth. Scheppers pitched a perfect
inning, and Joe Ortiz came in for the ninth.

But Ortiz allowed the first two batters to reach before striking out Chris Parmelee. Ron Washington went to Joe Nathan after that with one out and runners on the corner.

Nathan struck out Trevor Plouffe, but then gave up a three-run shot to Oswaldo Arcia as the Twins pulled to within 4-3. But Nathan got pinch-hitter Ryan Doumit to fly out and converted his second save in as many nights.

The Rangers jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first on RBI doubles by Lance Berkman and Nelson Cruz, who
has RBIs in six straight games.

The next two innings didn’t go as smoothly, though, with
some base-running adventures. But the Rangers eventually got back on track.

Adrian Beltre sent a deep fly ball over the center field fence in the sixth to extend the Rangers lead to 3-0, and Ian Kinsler had an RBI double in the ninth. Those proved to be necessary runs, in the end.